Ways to Reach Potential Customers

The first step toward success in any business is reaching potential clients and catching their attention. Successfully making contact requires an understanding of your prospective clients- you must know where to find them and how to evoke a response. Of course, not all of your potential clients are the same, and that means reaching out in different ways to connect with other segments of your market. Some of your prospects may conduct nearly all of their business online, and be best reached by email campaigns, social media. With others, physical reminders like letterbox deliveries may be more effective.

Email campaigns offer a number of advantages: your message reaches the potential customer quickly, and the ability to include links in your email makes it very easy for prospects to take the next step immediately after they receive your information. Email is typically less expensive than regular mail. And, it’s easy to measure success with email campaigns, too, since you can track how many or your potential customers opened the email. Or how many clicked through to your sales page and how many made a purchase or requested further information from that page.

Social media is another way to reach out to your potential client base online. While email messages and marketing through the post require the targeting of a specific sales message, social media marketing is more subtle. This not only allows you to cast a wider net in terms of connecting with prospects, but allows for a lighter touch and much subtler messaging. With social media, the object is to let your potential clients get to know you, witness your expertise, become familiar with your name, and on that basis decide to take the next step in information gathering.

Photo source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dellphotos/7442628634/

Letterbox deliveries are the hard-copy counterpart to email campaigns. In some people’s minds, using the post for advertising is outdated. The truth, though, is that there are many good reasons to reach out to potential customers this way. The flood of email most people receive means that many marketing messages delivered electronically are overlooked. Even if an email is opened, your prospect may soon forget about it if he doesn’t act immediately. A flyer or brochure that arrives in the mail is a physical reminder; if your potential client is at all interested, he’ll keep it on hand and perhaps be more likely to follow up later.

In many cases, the most effective means of reaching potential clients is a combination of these approaches, and maybe others. For example, those who have seen your posts in social media and know that you share valuable information may be more inclined to open your sales email or visit your website after receiving a mailing.

Heather Beleno is a part of an elite team of writers who have contributed to hundreds of blogs and news sites.